Weekend Coffee Share: Blogging Strategies

If we were having coffee today, (and yes, I admit, it has been a few weeks), it would be nice to have your company. Hubby was gone all weekend at a retreat in Lake Tahoe and I stayed home and caught up. Try some of this caramel-flavored coffee I just bought.

Lecturing at the university was a lot more work than I bargained for! Rather than bore you with the details, let’s just say I was very busy putting two two-hour lectures together each week for the last 4 months. The final grades were submitted on Friday for 90 students. Done.

I can breathe now.

My next project for summer…?

I’m working on the E-book. A little research, a lot of writing, then self-publishing…the summer will fly by, then school will start again.

On top of that, you know by now that my blog is self-hosted. Since my posts do not show in the WordPress Reader any longer, it takes more TLC to reconnect with readers using social media and other means. Many bloggers I have followed over the past two years have moved on to self-hosting. Because of the need for more blog promotion, I have found the need to employ some new and more consistent strategies.

Let’s take a few minutes and I’ll share some of my strategies for blog promotion. Need a refill on your coffee?

1. Sharing posts at link parties. I participate in three. There are endless opportunities to find link-ups hosted by other bloggers. Following the hosts and the rules of the link-ups are important for their success. Most link-ups have a goal for being featured (the most clicks on the post by other link participants). This extra exposure is guaranteed to bring more readers to your blog.

2. Interacting in Facebook Groups. I belong to several groups where sharing and promoting blogs has been helpful for finding and connecting with new readers.

3. Securing Sidebar Sponsorships. For a small monthly fee, my badge image is featured on the sidebars of two popular blogs. As readers scroll through posts on these blogs, the badges are revealed and can be clicked to read their latest posts. Plus the host blogger makes a little money in the process.

Please stop by Dream Big, Dream Often. Here you will see my badge. Dan re-blogs his “Dream Big” partners’ posts each week. He also hosts a weekly meet and greet.

My blog is also featured on Suzie Speaks. While you are there, here is your chance to vote for your favorite bloggers in the 2016 Blogger Bash. Please stop by and support fellow bloggers!

4. Sharing Others’ Posts. I always think it is wonderful when another blogger randomly shares my post on Twitter or Facebook. When I read a great post, I find the Tweet button at the bottom of the post and Tweet. Very quick and easy.

My Twitter following has also grown. Recently I published a post on the benefits of using Twitter Tools. Check it out if you missed it.

5. Being Featured on Other Blogs. This week I had the pleasure of being featured in an online magazine, Making Midlife Matter, 5 TIPS FOR A BETTER AND SAFER BICYCLE RIDING EXPERIENCE. I shared this older post with the editor and it was selected for publication.

6. Featuring Bloggers on Your Blog. Speaking of sharing, I came across two blogs this week that I’ll share with you. [bctt tweet=”Featuring other’s blogs in a round-up post is also an effective way to share the love and bring in more readers.” username=”windigenredhead”]

Sue Loncaric is a busy midlife blogger who writes about fitness, wellness and similar leisure subjects. She also co-hosts the Over the Moon Link Up Party that opens on Sunday nights. Please check out her latest post on adult play.

Another blogger I love reading is Lynn from Encore Voyage. She is happily retired and writes interesting posts. Her latest, Using Time Intentionally, is a must-read for those who are retired or thinking about it.

Well that took a while, but I really enjoyed having coffee with you today. Do you need a refill on your beverage?

Hi Terri! Found you through Suzie so your strategy for sidebar advertising really works 😉 Congratulations on graduating to self hosting! 🙂 I’ve never considered FB as a serious source of generating readership until recently when a post of mine went viral (well viral by my tiny standards at least). Are there any groups in particular that you would recommend?

Teaching can be exhausting but so rewarding too.
Thanks for putting this information together – great ways to build traffic! Just to let you know that people can follow your wordpress.org blog, if you set up a wordpress.com connection using the Jetpack plugin.

All the best, Terri on everything. This is great advice and you certainly mentioned some awesome bloggers. Dropped over from another awesome blogger, Elena over at #BlogShareLearn link party but always glad to stop by here. 🙂
Hope this weekend treats you kindly. 🙂

Love this post, Terri. I can relate to trying to reconnect with readers I had with my original blog… it’s tough! I find I only get really decent views when I use a daily prompt or self-promote until the cows come home, and people say too much self-promotion is a bad thing. But welcome to the self-hosted side anyway! 🙂 It looks great!

Link parties work well, and prompts with links. You should think about using the weekly photo challenge. You have some great photos and could write a decent post with each. It’s been a great formula for me. Thanks, Denise!

Its true promotion of your blog moves up a notch once going self hosted. I realized this as well. Moving from wordpress.com to my own was scary then half of your regular readers are gone-almost like starting over. However I also do the same steps above to reconnet with others. I like linkys (where I found your post btw 🙂 ) But I don’t do the button swap that might be a neat idea…must think of that one. Thanks again for you tips!

Sharing other people’s work is a great benefit to others and to your blog. I know there’s a few bloggers out there who only share their own posts on social media, but that is a mistake. Sharing other people’s blog posts can help create a sense of community with your followers, and this is more valuable in the long run that checking stats numbers. For example, I just found your blog through the Blogger’s Pit Stop link party, and I liked it so I’m going to share your post in social media. Like Danny (Dream Big) always says, “It helps you, it helps me, it helps everybody!” We rise by lifting others.

Good tips. I do some of these, but never even knew being featured in other blogger’s sidebars was a thing! The promotion is so much work & so much time – I never would have expected before starting that you have to spend most of your time doing things other than writing posts!

Great advice, although I think I’ve given up on link parties. Too much damn work reading DIY crafts and recipes. No offense to those people, but give me a story every time over the 345th different version of a taco salad!

Forgot to add congrats on the smooth transition to self hosted, now you get to learn how to grind to keep it up LOL. Lowest paying second job you will ever have, but the most enjoyable :). See you at you the beach…oh that’s right I’m in Indiana :(. HANG TEN!

Thanks for stopping by my blog! I like your post on strategies with blogging. My mantra lately is do what I can, there is so much to do and very little time. I try to stay with what works and not spread my self to thin.

Interesting ideas for promoting a site. Though as someone who is completely averse to all forms of social media, including Facebook and Twitter, I find the most commonly mentioned social media tips to grow a site often cannot be utilized. I appreciate your other ideas.

Thanks for sharing those good tips for promoting your blog. You’re right, it’s a lot harder when you’re not in the WP reader any more. I hope you’re having a better time since you moved than I have been. It’s been a disaster for me.
Good luck with your book. I’m thinking of going in that direction too, just having a hard time figuring out which way to go with it. 🙂

thanks Terri, yeah, I’ve been thinking of writing about that, it was a long hard road, I just don’t know what angle to come at it from. Biography? Nobody knows who I am, so why would they want to pick up the book? How to? Is there that much of a market for people (women) who want to become ship captains?
What do you think? Any suggestions?

Holy Moly! First off, THANK YOU so much for the link. I want to grow up to BE like you! It seems you are everywhere and do sooooo much! And speaking of everywhere, your hubs was in Tahoe??? I was in Tahoe this last weekend!!! Just hit the publish button! Are you certain we’re not twins in parallel universes? Congratulations on being self-hosted. I’ve been too scared, so you go first, okay? I have copied your URL and put you into my own little list on the WordPress reader that I lovingly call “Blogging Buds.” Cuz you are – I think your blog is great!

Oh, Lynn, you are so funny! It was my pleasure to link your post! Hubby was in South Lake Tahoe–Zephyr Point, for a retreat. Did you get snowed on? I went self-hosted because I had quite a few followers and I am now in the e-book writing mode. I waited almost two years before I took the plunge. Thanks for your enthusiastic support 🙂

We were at the Hyatt for a construction conference. Yes, it snowed on us. There were still fools in the pools! I can’t wait to see your e-book…again, you go first! I feel like I’m just getting started over here. Maybe one day…

Hi Terri! Firstly, thank you for mentioning my website I truly appreciate it. You have made some great points here. I have always been self-hosted – I actually thought that was the only way it was done LOL:) It doesn’t happen overnight but I think persistence pays off when you actually start to build relationships with your readers. I’m looking forward to your e-book. thanks for linking up with us at Over the Moon and have a great week.

So far I rely on Twitter, Facebook posts, and Facebook groups to find new readers, but it’s slow going. The A-Z Challenge brought in more readers. The Facebook groups are great support, but I’m finding many of the same people and the same links being posted in almost every group, so there’s not much new there for most members. I found you in We Blog, a group I don’t get to very often.

Thanks for your great advice, this is a great help to me as I finished a book last year and am working on getting a publisher. I’m putting 110% into my blog with short, funny posts in an attempt to get noticed. I’ve always just blogged for fun but now it’s time to get serious! Luckily I found a couple of lovely Facebook group pages over the weekend which is how I’ve come across your post today, and am feeling that I’m sailing in the right direction. (-8

Congrats on finishing grading! I bet you’re so relieved to be done with that! And oh goodness, an e-book…that sounds exciting!
Also, you’re blog showed up in my Reader for the first time since I suppose you became self-hosted with this post. I’m not sure if you did something different to get that to happen, but I just thought I’d note it, anyways.

This is a very informative post! 🙂 I just scrolled back in the WP Reader to see if I could find this post, and there it was. It was not a reblog. In the past I was not able to do this with blogs that were not on WP.com unless I manually added them to my reader. Perhaps something has changed. It may have something to do with Jetpack if you are running that plugin. I’m curious to know!

Thanks for letting me know, Terry! When I moved to self-hosting, I thought I was off the Reader. It must be JetPack. I still log into WP dot com and go through the reader, but I mostly read through the emails. I just added an email subscription widget. I do know that when my blog posted to the reader in dot com, I had a lot more traffic.

Three! Way to go! I have seen the Windigen site. What’s the other one? I have two other websites, self-hosted WordPress.org, but I don’t use them for blogging. They are basically just CMS for my little handcrafts gallery and yoga classes (which I’m currently not teaching 😦 )
Wishing you luck with it all!

The Windigen Consulting site is self hosted but not set up as a blogging site. Having a friend help me set that up from scratch gave me a bit of confidence to self host my blog site and change it to Second Wind Leisure Perspectives. I have just the two sites.

Nope, I definitely don’t follow that blog. I saw another post from you yesterday so, somehow your blog is now showing up on the Readers of all of those who followed you before you were self-hosted. Well, at least it shows up on mine.

Your comments on blogging are right. I have more enough to do and don’t really care if the blog grows bigger. I find if you want comment made one that shows you have read the blog. Coffee Share has really grown and I have a number to read and write this morning. Hugs! I did join one group called Flora Friday. I would lime to read more of the posts.

During our volunteer time we had many wildlife experience. One time we watch a peregrine falcon take an avocet. It happen so fast no time for a camera. Yes, trying to get an even time with a og. What please whensome takes the time to pull up old review and like it. I can see it is growing steadily by the number of followers. I would like to do Trent’s Weekly Smile. Than I joined Flora Friday. I don’t have time to write another blog.

I agree, Busy sounds an understatement to this lady. Loved the post too. Giving back, getting social, giving back…all golden rules of successful blogging 🙂 Thanks for sharing at the Pit stop and Congrats on being featured!

A Little Bit About Me

I am a leisure educator (university adjunct faculty), self-published author, and retired recreation and parks practitioner living in Northern California. Second Wind Leisure Perspectives is my blog about living a leisure lifestyle.